Toronto IdeaXchange.
 
  • In 2008, Ontario embarked on an ambitious Poverty Reduction Plan – to reduce poverty by 25 percent in five years, to reduce poverty by 50 percent in ten years – but through what metrics are poverty and the strategy to alleviate it measured?

    archiTEXT and theTreehouse Group – a collective of Toronto-area thinkers who facilitate theexchange of ideas by bringing together people from diverse backgrounds – teamed up to host the Toronto IdeaXchange: Architecture + Poverty at the Design Exchange on January 23, 2009. This invite-only event was an opportunity for some of the best minds in Toronto to come together for an "ideaXchange": to brainstorm, to network, and to creatively explore issues around architecture and its ability to act as a mechanism for change. Participants were drawn from a diverse pool of talent in order to tackle issues in a multi-disciplinary manner.     
     
    "Looking at these issues from different perspectives is of crucial importance," says Ontario Child and Youth Services Minister Deb Matthews.  "Events like this will bring us closer to implementing innovative solutions to the problems we face in addressing systemic poverty."
     
    With generous contributions from TD Bank Financial Group, the Metcalf Foundation and Heenan Blaikie, the participants spanned local leaders in art, architecture, business, politics, environment, social entrepreneurship, and social activism. These people, the current stewards and creators of our built environment, were provided with a unique opportunity to explore solutions in design alongside 15 youth ranging in age from 12 - 16.  Events included the archiTEXT model of Rapid Idea Generation and 3-D Sketching, as well as the Treehouse Group’s Speed Dating for Ideas accompanied by a suite of BrainCleansers, all devoted to exploring architecture’s role from the perspective ofthose both directly and indirectly involved in the field.